Cotton cleaner



J. D. RUST cbwwou CLEANER Jan. 18, 1944.

Filed Dec. 16, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Jan. 18, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COTTON CLEANER John D. Rust, Memphis, Tenn. Application December 16, 1940, Serial No. 370,389

1 Claim.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in machines for cleaning cotton.

There are many cotton cleaners on the market at present. One type is designed to remove burrs and large particles of trash and another is designed with a view to rolling and brushing the dirt and smaller trash out through a screen. This latter type has revolving fingers which brush the cotton with a rolling motion over the concave side of a screen. This rolling motion is objectionable because it has a tendency to twist and rope the cotton which makes it unsatisfactory for ginning and spinning. Furthermore, it does not do a thorough job of cleaning the cotton. My invention, therefore, has for an 010- ject to provide a cotton cleaner which is free of the above objections and to that end, my invention works on a principle which avoids any twisting and rolling of the cotton, leaving the cotton clean and fluffy and in ideal condition for ginning and spinning.

It is an object of the invention to provide a machine employing a series of rotating disc-type screens and suction blowers for blowing the cotton and trash onto each of the screens successively at one location and removing the cotton, freed more or less of trash, from the screens at another location and discharging the trash and cleaned cotton separately from the machine.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in Ii part be pointed out hereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends the invention still further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first .1

fully described in the following detailed description, and then be particularly pointed out in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the first embodiment .1

of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same looking from right to left in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail vertical cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail section on the line l-fl of Fig. 3.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in which like numbers of reference indicate like parts in all the figures it will be seen that upon a suitable base I are placed transverse supports 3 carrying longitudinals 2 on which a frame structure, composed of angle irons 4 to It! inelusive, is built up.

Suitably mounted in this fram is a series (plurality) of screen units, each comprising a housing II, portions of the front and back walls of which are removed to leave openings I2. In the housings II are rotating disc-type screens It, whose shafts I3 are mounted in bearings I4, and carry pulleys I5. The backs of the housings II have trash discharge openings H from which the trash and air discharged from the cotton impelling blowers or fans pass into a duct I8.

With each screen, there is associated a sucking-blowing fan whose housings I 9 contain the fans 20. The fan shafts 2| run in bearings 22.

23, 24 designate the suction ducts of the fans, the duct 23 carrying the cotton to be cleaned to the first fan, while the ducts 24 carry the cotton from preceding screens to succeeding fans, the final discharge of cleaned cotton taking place in the last duct blowing duct 25.

The intermediate blowing ducts 25 deliver the cotton and any trash that may be mixed with it to the screens I6 adjacent their tops and in line with the discharge holes I! in casing II (see Fig. 3).

The front walls of the screen housings I I have cotton discharge holes 26 located preferably at or near the bottoms of the housings, from which holes the suction ducts 24 lead.

A countershaft 21 is provided with drive pulleys around which and around pulleys on the shafts 2 I, the driving belts 28 pass.

Power is applied from any suitable source to the driving or first motion shaft 29.

Change speed pulleys 30 are provided on shafts 21 and 29 around which the belt 3| passes.

The several screens are turned by belts 34 passing over idler pulleys 33 mounted in suitable brackets 32 and passing around pulley 35 on shaft 2'! (see Fig. 2).

The operation of this embodiment of my invention is as follows: Assume the screens and fans or blowers to be in motion. Cotton is drawn into duct 23 and passes through the first blower by which the cotton is impelled against the screen. The screen is of a mesh which will hold permit th trash to-be.

back the cotton but will blown through. (The idea is to throw the cotton against the screen with as much speed as possible without breaking the seed.)

As the screen turns, it will carry the cotton along until it comes opposite the hole 26 in the front of the housing I I where the cotton is sucked up by the second fan of the series and thrown against the second screen of the series. This operation is repeated for each screen of the series until the clean cotton is eventually discharged via last duct 25.

By providing the openings [2 in the housings H a sufiicient area of the screen i exposed to facilitate the cleaning of the screen.

While I have shown my new and improved cleaner as a stationary one, it is obvious that a revolving screen-disc enclosed in said casing in close proximity to the back wall thereof, a suction blower having an intake opening and an outit can be adapted as a portable cleaner or inlet duct, said casing having at its upper portion of its front wall an inlet opening to which said outlet duct is connected to blow cotton and air against said screen-disc, said casing having an upper opening in its back wall in alignment withthe front upper opening for discharge of air and detritus and having a lower opening in its front wall for discharge of cotton, a duct from the lower cotton discharge opening of one unit to the inlet of the suction-blower of the next succeeding unit, and means for operating said screendiscs and said suction-blowers.

JOHN D. RUST. 

